A California man attacked his stepdaughter’s killer while her mother was reading a victim impact statement about the effect her brutal murder had on their family, the Ventura County Star reports.
On Tuesday, 33-year-old Euren Balbuena was in court in Ventura County for a sentencing hearing after a jury in November convicted him of first-degree murder in connection with the death of 31-year-old Zaira Patino-Trejo in 2020.
Balbuena also assaulted Patino-Trejo’s mother, Ariadna Avetisyan, just before he killed her daughter.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Avetisyan was reading a victim impact statement when her husband, the victim’s stepfather, lunged at Balbuena and punched him. Bailiffs quickly intervened and separated the two, according to the Star.
Officials removed the stepfather from the courtroom and the sentencing hearing resumed approximately one hour later.
It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would charge the stepfather in connection with the incident. He had not been charged as of Thursday afternoon.
In addition to first-degree murder, Balbuena was convicted of battery causing great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the deadly February 2020 encounter.
Avetisyan had gone to the couple’s apartment in Simi Valley and urged her daughter to leave after seeing indications of abuse. Balbuena prevented the mother and daughter from escaping and slashed Avetisyan before stabbing her daughter more than 30 times with multiple knives, according to KTLA-TV.
Balbuena was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison.
“Zaira Patino-Trejo was such a vibrant young woman with a bright future,” Supervising Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Suttner said in a press release.
“We cannot replace her unimaginable loss, but we pursued justice for Zaira and her family. We hope that this sentence brings some small relief to her family, knowing that Euren Balbuena as held accountable for her brutal murder.”
[Feature Photo: Euren Balbuena/Ventura County District Attorney’s Office]
